Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 18.1-11 and John 6.27-40
This morning I woke up. I could tell you that my very first thought was a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord, but let’s be honest here. All I wanted to know was what kind of food there was in the kitchen for breakfast. In reality that’s all I really ever want to know.
What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner? What can I eat for a snack? Are you gonna eat that?
We crave food. We think about it. We talk about it. We need it. We want it. We can’t go a moment without it.
It’s not often that I think about how much food takes up of my life, but when I do sit here and think hard it’s a bit dumbfounding. I am literally thinking about food all the time! How can I have gone this long without realizing what kind of priority level I have given food? How can it not have occurred to me that maybe I’m giving it more than its fair share of attention? Isn’t there something else I should be thinking about? Isn’t there something else I should be craving and therefore satisfying that crave? Somebody please tell me that there is something more important in my life than food!
(Enter Jesus)
Do not work
for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son
of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of
approval.
Then Jesus
declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will
never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6.27, 35)
Jesus is literally telling me, with no parable to interpret, with no secret message, and with no catch, that HE IS MY FOOD. He is asking me to give Him that huge amount of attention, instead of food. He is telling me that it’s time to realize that I’ve put Him on the back burner. Jesus wants to fill my every waking thought. Not food.
Now about Lent. Most people give up some food item, but if you’re like me, you probably spend the entire time thinking about how much you want it back. For example, right now I’m thinking about how terribly I want to drink a Fresca (I gave up soda for Lent this year). We end up thinking MORE about food. I hardly think that was the point.
In my opinion, here’s the point: we give that one thing up so yes, we think about the fact that it is missing, but then we fill that hole with Jesus. With prayer. With meditation. With praise. We use soda or chocolate missing from our lives to remind us that Jesus is missing from our lives. Every moment we spend not thinking about Him, He is missing from our lives. We are called to acknowledge God with our every breath. Not food and hunger.
One last thought. The Methodist Church regularly leaves the practice of fasting out of play. But think about what it might do for us. If we don’t eat, we will not stop thinking about food. But, if we think of Jesus every time we think about being hungry, instead of thinking more about food, that is a lot of thought heading up to Him. If we can focus on satisfying that intense craving with the bread of life, then we can really do some good. We can really change our lives. We can really change it all.
Lizzy McClinchie, FirstChurch member, Denton Wesley Foundation member
